mac12:
While I don’t disagree that’s it’s very good for one week what will your average be when you have no work until Thursday this week
Was having a quick peak of this thread. New and trying to get head around things.
Noticed your comment about that, is it common for 4 on 4 off jobs not to have fixed regular work?
As a temp/perm “Agency scum” driver yes, it is.
Those who are directly employed by the company are guaranteed 4 days a week, 11 hour shifts.
Those if us who are employed through the Agency are not (Actually, that’s just changed, tell you in a minute)*
Used to be I got a txt on Thursday or Friday asking if I was ok for, say, Monday-Thursday next week.
I’d txt back "Yep.
Go in on Monday and Tuesday, get a txt Tuesday evening saying “Not needed tomorrow, sorry”
Back in on Friday. But I’d just lost 150 quid, top line.
All the company drivers would be ok and get 4 shifts though.
*What changed was…back in Feb March time business was slow and Agency drivers were only getting 2 shifts a week so they were looking for other, more regular, work. A few found jobs and left. And these were good guys, good operators, knew the job inside out. They were missed.
So JL and the Agency drew up a list of names that they would guarantee 4 days a week to, this was so we’d stay and not look for other work.
I was lucky, I made the list (6 drivers), so I’m guaranteed 4 days a week. This NOT usual by any stretch of the imagination though.
The Agency I work for is Guidant (Blue Arrow), permanent presence on site. The manager is an absolute belter, really looks after his troops.
Bottom line…If you’re Agency you are not even guaranteed the next days job even if you turn up on time
I echo what Steve said,
On agency, you aren’t guaranteed any hours but you’ll be offered as many hours as you like around Christmas time, sometimes working up to 6 days and even more if you overlook tacho regs.
If you are PAYE on agency, you get Holiday pay and Statutory Sick Pay but it is only £94 a week so you might want to look into some kind of insurance scheme for sickness/injury if you need a set income each week - Agency work generally dries up around February time to April - This year for the agency I’ve been with has been particularly bad with some shifts offered only being 4-5 hours long and even then sometimes only 3-4 shifts offered per week, which just isn’t enough… Many agency drivers do CPC or holidays in the Feb to April time though.
If you get on airport work via agency, then quiet and busy periods follow when lots of passengers travel. So Christmas to Easter is fairly quiet, then Easter until September is busy, then quietens down til about December again, but half term for the schools picks up a week either side too.
Hyh:
I echo what Steve said,
On agency, you aren’t guaranteed any hours but you’ll be offered as many hours as you like around Christmas time, sometimes working up to 6 days and even more if you overlook tacho regs.
If you are PAYE on agency, you get Holiday pay and Statutory Sick Pay but it is only £94 a week so you might want to look into some kind of insurance scheme for sickness/injury if you need a set income each week - Agency work generally dries up around February time to April - This year for the agency I’ve been with has been particularly bad with some shifts offered only being 4-5 hours long and even then sometimes only 3-4 shifts offered per week, which just isn’t enough… Many agency drivers do CPC or holidays in the Feb to April time though.
If you get on airport work via agency, then quiet and busy periods follow when lots of passengers travel. So Christmas to Easter is fairly quiet, then Easter until September is busy, then quietens down til about December again, but half term for the schools picks up a week either side too.
So basically by the sounds of it best trying to get in with an agency, get the experience and on the off days/less shifts just bombard companies to try and get a start there?
Yes, that’s a good way in. Use the agency to your advantage - They might give you a couple crap shifts to begin with to see if you do turn up ontime etc, once they realise you’re reliable, you’ll begin to get more work. If you begin now, you’ll have some experience and know how to use a Tachograph etc before the Christmas rush comes - Assuming there is one this year…
However, avoid umbrella/payroll companies like the plague - Many agencies will try to force you into that, if they wont let you do PAYE or LTD Company (If you want LTD Company) Wish them a good day and leave - There are stories of people going with umbrella/payroll companies based in the channel islands, not paying the tax properly and a few years later HMRC going after the agency worker for the unpaid tax…With interest and fines - Personally not worth the risk in my opinion. It seems to be luck of the draw with each payroll company. Some will charge you a fee to pay you your wages
Manpower and The Best Connection will definitely do PAYE - You might need to be firm with them though
Some Driver Hire branches do PAYE and some will do Umbrella only, so make sure you know what you are signing up to with the agency before you start
Finally cracked the 800 quid mark
Approx 828 top line, dunno what the net is in next weeks pay packet.
Been a ■■■■■ week though, picking up that stupid infringement. Might be a written warning on the horizon, they take this stuff VERY seriously.
If so ask them whether they’d prefer Mrs Jones to have her washing machine delivered on time or kneel before the EU and beg for forgiveness. Only one affects their rep and profits.
trevHCS:
WTD went over your 6 hours infringement rubbish?
If so ask them whether they’d prefer Mrs Jones to have her washing machine delivered on time or kneel before the EU and beg for forgiveness. Only one affects their rep and profits.
No trev
I went over 15 hours by 4 minutes clocking out at 22:04 thereby reducing my, already reduced, daily rest when I clocked on at 7 next day.
As I’d clocked on previously at 07:00 I was supposed to get 9 hours rest before 07:00 next day. Hence the infringement.
Is that what your talking about?
Ah of its EU driving regs then they might have more to complain about, although hopefully they moan for the sake of looking like they are doing sometime (if VOSA come knocking), then forget about it.
trevHCS:
WTD went over your 6 hours infringement rubbish?
If so ask them whether they’d prefer Mrs Jones to have her washing machine delivered on time or kneel before the EU and beg for forgiveness. Only one affects their rep and profits.
No trev
I went over 15 hours by 4 minutes clocking out at 22:04 thereby reducing my, already reduced, daily rest when I clocked on at 7 next day.
As I’d clocked on previously at 07:00 I was supposed to get 9 hours rest before 07:00 next day. Hence the infringement.
Is that what your talking about?
Stevie you know the companies I’ve agencied for. Many of them OCRS blue (earned recognition etc). Usual score is someone in the transport office to pass over a bit of paper and ask for a signature. If you read it - then it says you have been told you have been naughty, and you have been trained. When you point out no training has been done they will say ‘this is standard’. No one really cares mate.
Plus from our fb chat - your card is clean. Your timesheet went 3 mins over. Honestly reckon you will be fine. 2 of the 3 OCRS blue firms I worked for were more than happy to pay over 15 hours as long as the card was clean. Won’t grass them up on here - but they were clean ‘on paper’, but they knew the real world wasn’t like that.
